My Top 3 Christmas Present Ideas

Now that we’re mid-way through December, everyone has (hopefully!) started thinking about presents for their friends and family. It can be really difficult to know what to give – if your family wants really specific things, it can feel a bit like a shopping list; if they don’t know what they want, it’s hard to know whether you’ve actually given them something of value, or whether you’ve simply added more clutter to their home.

My Top 3 Christmas Present Ideas aim to be heartfelt, personal options (that you don’t need to be an actual artist to pull off). They are also good options if you don’t want to spend too much money, and yet you don’t want to make it look obvious how little you’ve spent. So without further ado, here are My Top 3 Christmas Present Ideas:

In 3rd place: Put together a booklet of vouchers for doing things together, for example “trip to the cinema”, “invitation to dinner”, “post-work drinks”, and so on. the recipient can then ‘cash in’ these vouchers whenever they like. Remember that the gift-giver pays for the activities, so only put things on there you can actually afford! You can even add things like “holiday together” or “weekend away” (in which case your spouse is one lucky sod). If you want to get away from your significant other, you can add things like “trip to a spa” or “dinner for you and your friends (without me)” (in which case they are one unlucky sod).

In 2nd place: A physical photo album with your memories together, annotated with comments and stories. You can either order a full-on book, or make a scrapbook-style thing – whatever your style. I think this is something that can really be treasured, particularly if you choose a theme (such as a particular holiday you spent together or your time at university). With so many photos on social media, it’s easy to think of these as our “photo albums”, and forget about the joy of creating one yourself.

In 1st place: A box. But not just any box! A box filled with goodies. Also, it must have a theme – something well thought-out and personal. You can go as fancy or as basic as you like, both with the box itself and its contents. You can wrap a shoebox by hand or you can buy a box made of cut crystal and covered in 24ct gold leaf. Below are some examples for themes and what you might include:

Reading by the Fireplace

A book you know they’ll like

Their favourite tea or hot chocolate

Warm socks

A nice mug (perhaps themed after their favourite film or animal)

A hot water bottle

Arts and Crafts

Coloured paper, pens, glue, and glitter

An adult colouring book and coloured pencils

A set of watercolours and a mini-sketchbook. Write them a nice note on the first page of the sketchbook

A list of suggestions for presents they can make you out of these items

Makeup

A face mask

A selection of items of the style they would wear, and that go nicely together (eyeshadow, blush, lipstick, a couple shades of nail varnish). Maybe even write them a card explaining why you chose those items, what sort of look they create, and what sort of event they might be good for. If you’re feeling extra creative you can give your look a name and describe it with a poem.

Makeup brushes – because everyone needs more of those things. If your friend happens to have loads already, consider a beauty blender or other alternative.

Throwback – 90s Edition

Glitter gel pens and spider pens

A CD with 90s music and a post-it attached saying “what is spotify?”

All 10 seasons of “Friends” (it’s a big box okay)

A DVD of Scream / Pulp Fiction / Home Alone (make sure you also have an mp4 file since no one owns a DVD player any more)

A Furbie

Some scrunchies and coloured hair clips

Polly pocket / Bratz / whatever they played with

Bonus suggestion: who doesn’t love a good board game? Also, it can be super personal, as it’s implied you might play it together, AND you can tailor your choice of game to their personality.

Hope you found some of these suggestions helpful – let me know if you have any more in the comments!